


the less you know, the better

by thingswelostinthefire



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Gen, Past Torture, Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 12:52:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9897794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswelostinthefire/pseuds/thingswelostinthefire
Summary: Chris looks at him for a long second and frowns. "He was..." My brother. "My best friend." He shakes his head and orbs out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in season six, after Piper finds out she's pregnant, but the only differences are she tells Leo immediately and Chris never admits he's related to them. (Meaning Phoebe and Paige never find out.) Enjoy!

Leo orbs in just long enough to hear Chris shout, "Just do it yourself!" before orbing away from a fuming Piper.

"What happened?" Leo asks, slightly concerned but keeping a respectable distance.

"Future Boy won't tell me _anything_!" Piper explodes. "We got into an argument over..." She gestures to her stomach. "I was making cookies because he let it slip that he loves chocolate chip, and I thought, you know, maybe he would answer a few questions about our child. He got angry, so I backtracked and asked him to help me with the dough, then he just got... emotional. I don't know. Anyway, you saw the rest."

"Huh. I'll go talk to him," Leo offers.

"Wait!" Piper shouts, stopping Leo from orbing. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Leo, he doesn't like you. He doesn't seem very fond of any of us, but he _really_ doesn't like you for some reason. You knew that."

"Well, I thought this could be my chance to get him to... I don't know, warm up to me a little?" Leo scratches the back of his head.

"Okay," Piper relents, sighing. "Go."

Leo orbs into the office of Piper's nightclub, P3, where he knows Chris has set up a little mattress so he'll have somewhere to sleep before going back to the future. "Hey," he says, but cuts himself off in shock at the sight of Chris's bare back.

He looks... horrible. His back is covered in long, faded scars that resemble claw marks, and not the kind that comes from a cat, and old burn marks are planted everywhere.

Chris turns around and takes note of Leo's horrified face. "Picture'll last longer," he sighs, pulling on a clean shirt. "I was just changing. Look, I'm sorry about Piper. Is she okay?"

Leo waves him off. "I don't care about that right now. What the _hell_ happened to you?"

"I told you about the future, didn't I? Life's not all roses and happy things over there. If Wyatt being a serious danger to humanity weren't the case, I wouldn't have come here just to save him. I figured you knew that." Chris shrugs as if he's been over this a million times before and starts picking up shoes and trash off the floor.

Leo winces and sits down on the unmade bed... mattress? "I'm sorry. Would you tell me about it?"

"What is _up_ with you and the sisters lately? Nothing has changed! I. Can't. Tell you. About. The future. _Seriously_." Chris raises his voice, but he doesn't look mad. He looks... exhausted.

"Give me _something_ , Chris," Leo pleads in a voice that sounds nothing like his own. "How am I supposed to just take your word for it, huh? For all I know, you could've grown up in an abusive household or something."

Chris lets out a humorless laugh for a second. "Nothing even close to that happened, trust me." He lets out a shaky breath. "I - When it was clear that Wyatt wasn't just going through some sort of... rebellious teenage phase, I started the Resistance. At first, we were nothing. I mean. We weren't strong enough to take on Wyatt, even with the entire living Halliwell family on our side."

"Really?" Leo asks. "We turned against Wyatt and joined _you_ , seriously?"

"There was no _turning_ , Leo," Chris's face turns red. "Wyatt's the one who turned. We were all still fighting the good fight. Meanwhile, Wyatt was taking over the entire Underworld and bending every upper-level demon to his will."

"Woah," Leo remarks, thinking there would be something akin to awe in his voice if the whole situation weren't so horrible. Chris nods and sits down next to him.

"Some demons got out and joined us before it was too late. That's how I met Bianca, actually. She was on the run after her mother was killed by Wyatt's men. She helped with a lot. We spent years fortifying our side of San Francisco. Wyatt at least gave us that. And this," Chris points to his back, "is what happened when I pissed him off. I did a lot of that."

"That's... My son did that," Leo remarks, rubbing at his eyes and leaving them red from the contact.

"Leo," Chris frowns, "it wasn't Wyatt. I knew him well enough to know it wasn't him. You and Piper raised him too well to grow up to be the future of all evil, for God's sake. That's how I knew there was something wrong with him. Actually, you helped me draw a rough timeline of when Wyatt would've been turned, and it was _you_ who told me to come right when the Titans were freed."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You said the girls would be so focused on their own problems that they wouldn't even notice me until later, and by then, I would fit right in. Of course, you didn't say anything about how _you_ would take it, but you were completely right about Piper, Phoebe, and Paige." Chris chuckles a little.

"I guess I wasn't the most hospitable, huh?" Leo asks with a wince, rubbing his neck.

"S'okay. That was honestly one of the only times in the future that we ever got along. We used to butt heads all the time, so it didn't surprise me very much."

"Did I not like you or something?"

"I was the leader of the _Resistance_ , Leo. You didn't necessarily _agree_ with Wyatt, but you must have thought I was trying to _kill_ him or something. I don't... completely blame you. When you realized I was only trying to save him, we were able to become allies. Well, most of the time. You mainly just stayed out of my way."

"Oh," Leo nods. "So... how did you know Wyatt? Seems to me like you cared about him. Why? I mean, from an objective viewpoint, if he wanted to kill you and your friends, why were you trying to save him? Why are you _still_ trying to save him?"

Chris shakes his head a little as if he's being shaken out of a trance. He stands up. "I can't tell you any more, Leo. Damn it, I've already told you too much."

"Wait!" Leo pleads. "I trust you. Chris, I trust you, but _please_ , just answer my question."

Chris looks at him for a long second and frowns. "He was..." _My brother_. "My best friend." He shakes his head and orbs out.

Later, after Wyatt's already asleep and Piper has finished eating dinner, Leo orbs into her bedroom and gives her a long hug.

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Yeah," Leo says. "He told me a lot."


End file.
